Conflict of Interest - Ⅲ

A wave of laughter erupted and washed over the entire place. 

I felt Michael tense right to my left, standing two steps ahead of me. 

"Compensation for apples could've been one way to greet the neighbours after millions of years." I tried to play along. Pulling the bare minimum of what was required to cause a small detonation using Arcanum, I let it flow subtly and condense right atop my hand that was tucked behind my back. 

He scoffed, as if he had heard a joke. "I did hear humans have a good sense of humour." The smile narrowed. "You seem to not have inherited it."

Hmmm. I wasn't joking though?

"Oh, my parents are real bores." I shrugged my shoulders, the small sphere of Arcanum that was no bigger than a candy condensing atop my palm. 

Michael looked at me from the corner of my eye. His hands were balled into fists and there was impatience in his eyes. 

"Ouch." He let out a hearty chuckle. If not for the people standing in shadows with murderous intents and battle-ready sheens around them, it could've been considered a very wholesome conversation between Humans and Aliens. "Your friend seems to have really enjoyed our delicacy here."

"Oh, he has." I agreed wholeheartedly. 

He nodded his head a few times. The light in his eyes and the smile on his face all but vanished as the wind caused a few locks to hug his face. From behind the grey locks, his eyes narrowed and a frown formed on his face. "Did you encounter a woman while sneaking into this place?"

Michael shuddered. 

"Old woman. Purple hair. Stubs for horns." I recalled. "Her son named Ed was about to get executed here."

He gripped the bridge of his nose and looked at the sky. "Urgh, you damned old bat." He cursed, but there was a degree of adoration to it. Without a change in his voice, he spoke again. "I am assuming she's dead."

"Yep."

A brief moment of silence ensued. Like the calm before a storm. He let out a heavy, dejected sigh. 

"Always told that woman to not do things she isn't capable of." He pressed his thumb into his right palm and rubbed it against the surface. Slow and gentle at first, but the rubbing intensified with each, awkwardly passing second. "Commoners. All of them have the same mentality. To prove something. I am sure it must be the same over on your side."

"Not really. The Lord and Commoner system have long since been abolished." I almost scoffed at the irony of my own words. "Democracy is commonplace now."

He smiled, although it didn't quite reach his eyes. It felt like he was mourning, the rubbing of his thumb changing cadences every now and then. "Surely you benefit from this—allegedly—fair democracy."

"Well, the ones in power do." I replied and the small, round congregation of Arcanum swelled in my palm. "Just a fancy name for the same thing."

"Hmmm." He hummed out loud and let his arms dangle freely to the side. "Well, formality and duty refrain me from putting my own personal matters above the Lord's motives, but I still need to ask a few things. Can I?"

"I don't think time is a luxury either of us can afford."

His lower lip pressed over the upper one as he fell in deep thought. Looking over my shoulder, he saw someone crawl out of the pub, point at me and then drop down again. 

"So, someone is alive inside." He mumbled with surprise. "I am guessing you are the one who killed my mother. And the drunkie is a softie as well."

"He has a few traits that make me want to spill his blood, yes. But putting that aside, you are right. I was the one who slit her throat."

He hummed once again. "Then why do you still fight by his side?"

"Conflict of Interest."

A dark chuckle escaped his lips. "Right. I can understand that." His lip quivered. "Is her body in a retrievable condition?"

I looked around us. More and more people were pouring in, but none of them dared to attack. Their gazes transitioned from anger and hate to pure disgust and mild surprise at the peaceful conversation between us. 

"She's complete, if that's what you are wondering. Buried underneath the 17th tree in the second column of the avenue. If you are walking from the Keep."

"Oh." He smiled and then looked up. "I'll make it swift then. I don't really hold grudges or carry indiscriminate hatred towards any race." He craned his neck behind and then back at me. "My mother was a commoner. I am not. She always had this urge to be of some use to the duke that raped her and ended up making me." 

"That's sad to hear, I guess."

"Your words betray the look in your eyes, human." Ed let out a humourless chuckle. "But no, it's not exactly sad. Look where I am." He extended his arms to the side in a welcoming way. "I am a General. Being the bastard of a Demon Duke isn't my identity anymore. But that stupid hag had to go ahead and—well, I suppose it doesn't matter now." 

He brought his hand above the ground and stopped it at a certain height. 

"As a Vorlith I give you my oath no one will intrude through our duel." He then looked at Michael. "As for you, I can't guarantee that."

Michael scoffed. "These twigs? Seriously?" Looking up at the sky he cackled. Like the boom of a lightning splitting the sky, his laughter echoed throughout the keep. As he slapped his knee, he looked up and wiped the tear from his eye before letting out a hiccup. He pumped both of his fists against each other. "I am going to murder y'all."

His words were the catalyst as the echo of his laughter that was still reverberating was drowned out by the clamour of weapons clashing against shields and heavy steps of armour clanging on the ground beneath. Sand kicked up as the huge wave of soldiers of three distinct races—Dwarves, Trolls and Demons—started to attack him altogether. 

With another cackle of a madman and a look on his face that bordered on insanity, he jumped into the crowd. 

Everyone was attacking him all the while narrowly skipping me. 

"He'll die." He said and nodded as if agreeing with himself. 

"He'll live." I replied as I looked at him, drunk on the pure adrenaline he received from violence. "If it was me, I would've died though."

"Hmph. Humans really have their heads in the sky. It's adorable…and unsightly at the same time."

"Your position should make you understand why numbers are not everything." I motioned my head and then extended my hand towards the sky. The roof of the pub where all the weapons of people had joined broke open and multiple weapons started to float a few metres above my head in the shape of a halo. 

Flicking my index finger downwards, a sword landed in my grip. "Enough chitter chatter."